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Yesterday I took delivery of two new queens - the postman always seems alarmed if the envelope buzzes. So yesterday afternoon got them ready to introduce to the hive. First job is to remove the half dozen or so workers from the queen cage. I put the plugs in the bath and sink and sealed all the...

I have been looking up the wax moth lure recipe that was in BBKA news last year. It was 1 cup of sugar 1 cup of water 1/2 cup of vinegar 1 banana skin i put it in a 2 litre plastic milk container and swish it around. i then cut a 1 inch hole just below shoulder. Last year I put a couple of...

Two octogenarians are sitting on a park bench and one says "I am 83 years old and my joints all ache and i feel really old. You are about my age. How do you feel?" The other one says "Well I too am 83 years old but i feel like a new born baby" The first one asks "A new born baby? How can...

I have noticed the odd ant scurrying about but how about this for blooming cheek? I noticed a line of ants marching up the hive and one was carrying a white object. When i lifted off the roof this is what I found on the crown board. Obviously the ground is wet and this place above the brood...

The last few days for me seem to have been dominated by queens . Saturday morning I went to look at a colony that I was given. I have told been told always take your queen marking equipment if there is an unmarked queen, just in case you spot her. Down at the farm I opened up the crownboard and...

I have been doing a bit of research on this? Modern beekeeping do them in Langstroth but you can't get the Jumbo brood body. Swienty do a Langstroth with a Jumbo body but you have to buy from Denmark and their VAT rate looks horrendous. Wynne Jones only sells National poly hives from i think...

http://www.modernbeekeeping.co.uk/ Has this firm only just started selling these? I thought i had only seen clothing on their site before. At the prices it would be tempting if i have to house another colony before the end of the year. Wooden hives, if you can get them are costing an arm and a...

I bought a national nucleus of bees (Cause that is all you can get) but I want to get the bees into a commercial box. I rigged up a contraption to get the national frames to fit into a commercial brood box. Once the colony were settled and the queen was laying I decided to transfer them onto...

I have recently bought two nukes from Mike. I was surprised that one lot were yellow bees. Mike tells me that I have two carniolan queens but that one colony have Australians as the nurse bees. He is interested as to how they compare with the normal caniolans in this respect. I noticed this bit...

Do you think the red pollen that is coming in is lime? I live in a town and I was quite surprised when the swarm I collected and this colony, which I persume is a cast, started bringing in bright red pollen. Most of the pollen, and they are both bringing in loads is bright yellow. I persume that...

Are these Carniolans? I set up a bait hive and when i came back to take it for a swarm I found it had been occupied by these guys. The swarm went in another hive but as there were not a huge number of these i put them in a nuke box. They are very gentle. When the weather was hot i had my hammock...

Just done the first one after going on the list. I was getting fed up with about 4 calls over bumble bees and two over masonary bees. I asked "are you sure they are honey bees?" "oh yes" the lady said " we used to keep bees ourselves" Brilliant, i thought. She also told me that they had landed...

Good source of jokes is the Rick Wakeman show. Wish i could remember more of them. A man driving down the motorway when his boss rings him up. His boss tells him that he has promoted him. He is so surprised he swerves. Further down the road his boss rings him again and tells him he has...

Heard this one on Planet Rock - I have DAB radio on my Hi Fi and got one for the car for Christmas - brill. It was on the Rick Wakeman show. Anyway this is it as best as I can remember The Lone Ranger is captured by hostile indians and he is taken back to the village where he is taken before...

My hive faces South as I thought that would encourage the bees to get out of bed in the morning. However someone I know has his bees facing East and the entrance is shaded most of the time - its because he wants to keep their flight path away from people and his bees are doing OK. I should soon...

i got my first call out yesterday since being added to the web site list for Shropshire, for swarm collecting. So I asked "Are you sure they are honey bees? They are not bumble bees are they?" "Oh yes they are honey bees" came the reply "they are small and black" So great I thought. My one...